motorola

It looks like it is going to be Verizon’s year considering the number of quality products it has lined up for release this year. Motorola Unlocked Droid (2), Blackberry Storm 3, Blackberry Curve 3 and 10.1-inch tablet are all set to be released by the end of this year which means that there is going to be a huge buzz surrounding Verizon this year.

The rumors have already started with the surfacing of a few Droid 2 images. This comes fresh after rumors were doing the rounds about Droid 2 releasing along with a two blackberry devices. The images have served up the rumors to be pushed to the fact that the Droid 2 is supposed to have 5 MP camera fitted together with a 1 GHz processor. It is also believed that it will have a QWERTY keyboard and Android option. The images have all the more confirmed the fact that the Droid 2 will be launched soon, maybe even as early as August.

A couple of Blackberry phones are also likely to be launched soon. There is talk of Blackberry Storm 3 and Unlocked Blackberry (Curve 3) being the ones. The Blackberry Storm 3 is supposed to have SurePress and will run on LTE. The Blackberry phones will have other new features which have not been clearly understood. The Blackberry Storm 3 may have OS 6, but details on this matter are not available.

The 10.1-inch tablet can be more or less confirmed to be a rumor and there is a maximum possibility of a 7.9 or 8-inch tablet. Even that is releasing next year.

Even if the tablet does not release this year, Verizon may be on the verge of a highly successful year with a series of much-hyped products ready for launch. It is only a matter of time before we know more about these fascinating devices.

The major news in the software market is that Microsoft Bing will soon be incorporated into Android. This is expected to be accomplished within the next six weeks and is indeed a big talking point.

The software is not a new one and is already found in Apple’s Unlocked iPhone 4. It is particularly useful when it comes to browsing through web, and locating places using the mapping of the software. It has quite a few interesting features. Microsoft Bing is already partially present in Android but the version being talked about here is a much advanced version which has possibilities of image search as well.

What remains a point of interest is that by joining in with Android, they are making a move to remove their biggest rival in this particular market, Google. Google is well known for its capabilities as a search engine and most people use Google habitually. It is indeed quite impossible to topple Google of this stronghold no matter how useful Microsoft Bing may be. Hence, Microsoft Bing combining with Motorola Milestone Unlocked Android handset has raised several eyebrows.

Microsoft Bing, nevertheless, will try and give competition to Google and maybe if they are made into default application in mobile web browsing, they might actually benefit from this. Mobile searching is actually a forum where Bing can actually be a force to reckon with. Google will obviously realize the threat and improve a few things to counter this move by Bing and they have adequate support and ability to keep Bing away.

In this battle for supremacy, both parties are working on improving themselves in various ways like Microsoft upgrading their search services to include Image recognition facility and there has always been a tendency to move towards addition of social networking. All this builds up for a fascinating rivalry.

Well if you are looking to get into the Android market for smartphones this summer, then you are up for some hard competition as two major mobile phones which are coming into the market. Both these phones are set to be Android OS super smart phones and have specs which are to die for. The smartphones that we are talking about here are the Unlocked Motorola Droid (X) from Verizon and the HTC EVO 4G which will be carried by Sprint. As we said, both these phones have great common features of the nature of a 1 GHz processor and HDMI output along with 8 megapixel camera which are just some of the basic specs that we are talking about. Let’s look at the features of these two phones more in depth.

In terms of the operations, both are pretty equally matched and have full HD output in 720p onto any kind of monitor. There are however some differences in the features of these phones which are pretty noteworthy. In terms of the home keys and the sheer size, the Droid X is a bigger phone. Although thinner, this phone is taller than its competitor. Furthermore, the EVO uses touch sensitive home keys which are in stark contrast to the rather flimsy buttons on the Droid X’s interface. Furthermore both phones have a cushioned touch but EVO feels rather spongy. Both the phones have the Android 2.1 OS but they have much contrasting UI. The Droid X on the Verizon features the new Motorola Unlocked ( MotoBlur) UI while the EVO has the very popular Sense UI. There are certain apps which work differently on both the phones.

Other than this, the dialer on the EVO 4G is more user friendly as compared to the Droid which does not offer the contact guessing feature.

In this highly mobile world, trends that have just kicked in are gotten rid off immediately and a much newer trend is then adopted. With the Unlocked Droid ( X) from Motorola and Incredible from HTC covering the elite section of Verizon’s smartphones, the older ones such as Droid, which hits its eight month, and Devour, which hits five, are taking the back seats. Although Verizon will still continue selling both their products, Motorola will be pulling back their any further supplies. So make sure to decide fast if you want your Unlocked Motorola handset because these stacks are soon to be cleared for fresher stocks to arrive. Like the former mentioned Motorola, a few others will be soon following suit, and in the mad rush to aim for the better and newer and more sought after models, these too will also be shown the door.

The 9630 tours by BlackBerry did not make it to the cut like Motorola’s Droid X and will soon be cleared from most stores. As mentioned previously all precedent older mobiles, which have already had their fill of success in the market will soon be out. The Blackberry Unlocked 9650 Tour will be replaced by Bold 9650 accompanied by the much sought after Nokia Twist. Samsung’s feature phones too have been treated the same way as they lost the crunch, although that was always expected. These changes are a sure sign that no longer will phones be tolerated as only newer models of cell phones are being sought after by customers. The Droid on one hand drove a heavily successful campaign in the advertisement world, which ensured their stay.

The need to replace older stock models can be easily seen from the fact that many customers plan on purchasing newer models instead of older ones as newer models usually have better features.

One cannot really hate the promotional work that T-Mobile does and we too are also becoming fans of this network. Recently the company had launched a new plan where they offered the entire line of cell phones for free. Now the company has come with a new deal where you can get the Unlocked Motorola ( Charm ) which comes with the Android OS for free by signing with them on the family plan. Even if you are not a part of any family, you can get this phone via the back to school offer that the company will be giving.

On the downside, the Charm phone is not really very high on specs phone and one should not really look for getting much out of it. While there are not many great features, you will get the minimum out of this phone which itself is said to be a messaging phone. However, we feel that if T-Mobile does not cash in on this phone soon enough then they might lose out on some revenues that they might have gotten.

In terms of pricing, again this unlocked phone is offered for free against the customary two year contract that one has to sign with the service provider. The price of a phone like the Charm can easily range up to around $100 and since you are getting this phone for as much as $0 then you can definitely have no qualms about paying extra for the contract you would have to sign.

We strongly believe that T-Mobile should really consider making this plan a permanent one as this may just keep the flow of the customers coming into their bandwagon. The phone is nothing much to write home about but we do recommend it just because of the plan that the good people at T-Mobile are offering us.

The most awaited Android device which has been slated for a summer release in July is soon to hit the markets and customers will get their chance to get their hands on this one very soon. The company has been engaged in a strong advertising campaign which had been built to create a big hype around this unlocked cellphone. Well they have done it again with the new promotional video for this phone which has come out on the internet. This gets the viewers attention but funnily does not have any information about the phone itself. However this is a great gimmick nonetheless.

In terms of the features, the Verizon Unlocked Motorola Droid ( X ) is one great device and the specs that it carries are much ahead of the other competitors which are there in the market. The large 4.3 inch touchscreen is genuinely good. 1 GHz OMAP processor makes operations on this phone really smooth. Other than this, there is also a great 8 megapixel camera which has a dual LED flash which means taking photographs will be a nice experience on this one. The video recording on this camera is of pretty good quality and its HDMI port offers a 720p HD video and picture streaming to a television screen or any monitor which can be externally connected to this device. This is really important for the people who want good video specs on their smartphone. Other than this, there is GPS, Wi-Fi connectivity and a MicroSD slot on the phone which is sure to satisfy the most discerning user.

Although whatever little reviews which we have laid our hands on is not really excellent, but we sure hope that Verizon gives us more of a reason to go and pick up this phone which we otherwise think is pretty good.

HTC has seemingly taken up their fight in the mobile phone market where so far major players like Unlocked Motorola Phones and Samsung have a free reign. After a series of new phones from the latter two, there are some more specs of the soon to be released Unlocked HTC ( Ace ) and Sabor which has come to our attention. What we see here is really amazing and encouragingly, but we feel that the specs can be produced by the next year, latest. The Sabor alongside the Ace forms a duo of two phones which are said to be the supped up versions of the EVO. The Sabor is supposed to be the EVO 2 for the Sprint and the Ace is said to be the GSM version of the EVO.

As far as specifications go, what we are certain of is that the Ace has been slated for release with the Android 3.0 or the Gingerbread which is however, still a distant dream. Other than that, there is the new super AMOLED screen and 1.5 GHz processor which will make this phone smooth to operate. There is also an 8 GB camera and a 1.5 megapixel camera in the front. In terms of process speeds, the figure of 1.5 GHz is pretty believable as the specs of 2 GHz are also being talked about. However, the only thing lacking in this phone is the Sense UI which makes for a rather good looking device. With this, one could have designed custom skins and got the phone to look the way they wanted. Sadly, Ace from HTC does not carry Sense.

As we said earlier, the Ace is the GSM version of the HTC Unlocked ( EVO ) Handset and the upgrade on this phone is pretty good but not revolutionary. Keep your eyes on this to know more.

AT&T is soon coming out with the Unlocked Samsung (Captivate) and is soon to be followed by the release of the new entrant into the Android market, the AT&T Dell Streak which will soon hit the stores on sale. While some of its specs are pretty cool and it has a big screen of around 5 inches, the fact that it will carry only Android 1.6 is a bit of a downer as this may just be a factor which dissuades a few people from buying this phone. We honestly feel that Android 1.6 will not really cut it in today’s market. Anyway let us see what the specs are on this one in general.

Dell’s new Android phone however will be getting an update of the Android 2.2 the Froyo but sadly the timeframe has not been set yet and this could be a deciding factor. The phones both have pretty big displays. Captivate comes with a 4 inch display and the Dell Streak carries a 5 inch display. However the Captivate scores much higher as it comes with the excellent new super AMOLED which means that this phone will so easily score more than the Streak among the people who want a better picture quality on their phone. Nonetheless the competition is pretty good and both phones are up to the mark in their certain way. The Streak unlike the captivate has two cameras which means that you can have some video chat going on and therefore the multifunctional aspect of this phone does score somewhat.

These two ones are by far the best Android phones that have come up from the house of AT&T like Motorola Backflip Unlocked handset and we do think both are pretty worthy competitors in the smartphone market. However, in spite of everything, we would like to recommend the Captivate over the Streak.

The new Unlocked Motorola Droid ( X ) which has come out on Verizon is a great piece of work and has excellent software and hardware which has meant that this is pretty much worth the $200 or so amount that you will be shelling out for it. However there is one thing which has proved this phone to be somewhat of an annoyance for developers. The reason for this is that the phone comes with a bootloader which has been locked down. Other than this, there is also the small matter of a new tool known as the eFuse which checks on the version of the ROM, bootloader and the kernel and if any of them do not match then the machine shuts down and will not come back by itself. One has to send it to the Verizon store, which then can send it to Motorola who will then restart it. This is unlike the more user friendly Droid which had an unlocked bootloader.

This application makes it such that one cannot install any kind of non Motorola ROM such that there is no illegal software which is being used here. While we agree that the developers might want to safeguard their products, but honestly there is no such need to lock the device down to such an extent. Customers argue that due to the amount of money that they pay for the device, they should be allowed a free reign to do whatever they want. However we feel that the normal customers would not try to put forward a custom ROM.

Motorola, however, do want to keep their backflip unlocked Android phone which can be changed and customized still in the market and you can actually use the custom ROMs which are given on the device.

AT&T is famous among many Android fans as the “anti-Android” network carrier in the United States. This is because of their overhauling of the stock operating system of Android. AT&T and Motorola decided to place Yahoo search instead of all Google search following the first and foremost Android device land on AT&T, that is, the Motorola Back flip. No Android phones are equipped with the ability of installing applications that are “non-market”. With the launch of latest phone, AT&T has responded on the FAQ page of Android by saying, “AT&T as the sole source for applications selected Android Market as it emphasizes on the accountability of developers for the submitted apps. Any issues or problems with the app that the Android community faces will result in removal of the app. Thus the hazard of malicious apps that can harm customers is minimized. This way more security can be provided to every customer’s personal information that is stored in the phone.”
We were astonished on reading this because it actually made sense. Less geeky Android users don’t really bother to install apps from the outside the Market. Android users like me and maybe you install apps from outside, as we want our devices to do whatever we wish. The more tech savvy Android users will somehow root their devices or purchase a new Nexus One or shift to Verizon, the biggest supporter of Android.

Android is open, therein lies its beauty. Hence AT&T owns the right to do whatever they want with the Android models that they sell and people who are not satisfied with it can free to buy other company’s devices. A question may arise as to why users cannot install apps from sources that are external and do not fall in the Android market. The answer to this question is that AT&T gives is that they wish to hold the developers responsible for the apps they develop and that they have faith on the community.

Android Market was selected by AT&T as the sole source for apps because AT&T emphasizes on the accountability of the developers for the applications that they submit. A particular app can be removed or flagged if Android community has any issue with it. This greatly decreases the danger of malicious apps that could have harmed customers and hence protects the private information of the customers saved in the phone.